Not Just Me Anymore
by toddmanningfreak1112
Summary: Sequel to Lost on the Road of Life...A cheating boyfriend, an unfaithful friend, and an accident that will change her life for ever. When Lily's life spins out of control, she realizes that she always has her family to fall back on.
1. Chapter 1

Not Just Me Anymore

Sequel to _Lost on the Road of Life _

By toddmanningfreak1112

Chapter 1

Lily Vickers could not believe how much could change in a year. A year ago, she had wandered into Llanview trying to make a life for herself although she was barely fifteen. She had thought that her brother, sister, and mother died, and her adoptive father simply did not want her. She thought that no one in the world loved her; little did she know that Llanview, what her Uncle Todd often referred to as "Devil's second Hell," held the key to all of her healing and happiness. The fact was that her mother, sister, and brother _were _alive, and her biological father (and pretty much all of her extended family for that matter) were there in Llanview all along! While there were many speed bumps along the way, Lily had almost forgotten life in Baltimore with Richard Patterson. _Almost. _

Still, not all things were positive in that past year. One of the negative things was her friends; sure, she had a lot of them in the past year. Lily and these girls Leigh, Sandy, Connie, Ginny, and Farah were all in a clique that the school nicknamed "The Gossip Girls" because they were always giggling and whispering down the hallway. Although they were all extremely close, the group had dissolved over the summer. Leigh was accepted at Interlochen Arts Academy and planned to go there for the remainder of her high school education. Connie's father's company had relocated to Los Angeles, and she moved across the country there.

"It's okay," she had told them excitedly when she broke the news. "I'll finally be able to pursue that modeling career that I always wanted."

Sandy, meanwhile, had completely lost the trust of all of her friends and her boyfriend when she tried to seduce Ginny's boyfriend, Steve. After Steve exploited her, she sort of disappeared over the summer, and everyone had to wonder if she would be back at Llanview High for their sophomore year. Ginny was still there also, but she started to hang out less and less with her sister, Farah, ("I see enough of her at home," she joked.) and their friends and started to hang out with her own friends

While some friends had drifted away, Lily still had Farah, Jade, and her boyfriend, Granger. They had all been there for her when she needed them most, and she loved them for that. Even they were changing. Jade, who broke up with Connie when she moved, started to be more flirty when it came to Lily, and Farah, whose boyfriend died in a snowboarding accident, had taken off a gold band that he had given to her.

"It's not an engagement ring," she had explained. "It was just a sign of commitment that I was his and he was mine, that's all. And now that I'm over him, I'm over this ring." With that, she had tossed the ring into Llantano Lake, but Lily could swear that she could still see the ring glistening from the bottom of the water.

After she had taken the ring off, Farah was a little more clingy to Granger. Lily thought nothing of it; after all, they had been friends longer than Lily had even _known _them. Still, she wished that Granger would step up and remind her that he had a girlfriend whom he loved very much, but of course, that never happened.

* * *

"I'm home!" Lily called opening the large door of Llanfair. She did not expect anyone to answer; Sarah and CJ and both resumed their lives and moved out of Llanfair a few months ago, and Tina was simply never home. She had decided to take up the family career of journalism and start her own magazine called _Insanity!, _but she seemed to always be out with one of her models than in the office ordering people around like Lily's stepmother, Dorian, often did at _Craze! _Viki was probably in _her _office at _The Banner. _

She sighed; she _really _wished that she had invited Farah over after they had gone shopping, but then she remembered that _Granger _had promised her to help her study. Lily offered to go, but Granger warned her against it hinting that Farah could be slightly moody today. Today was her boyfriend, George's, birthday, and she felt guilty about throwing his ring in Llantano Lake. Although Lily wanted to be there for her best friend, she decided against it knowing that Granger would know how to handle this.

"Lily, is that you?" a voice finally called from the kitchen. Lily made her way into the kitchen, where she saw her cousins, Jessica Vega and Natalie McBain, smoothies.

"You put too much banana in!" Natalie complained trying to reach into the blender.

"Will you just shut up?" Jessica groaned with a smile. "I know what I'm doing, you're just going to ruin it if I let _you _be in charge!"

"Hey, Lily," Natalie sighed, finally acknowledging her cousin. "Will you tell Jessica that she's putting in too much banana?"

"I am not!" Jessica shot back.

"What are you two doing here?" Lily wanted to know. Both of her cousins were married and lived with their husbands.

"Well, Jessica's blender broke, and John and I don't have a blender," Natalie explained. "We were going to go to the store, but Jess obviously thought that I made a better smoothie."

"Yeah right," Jessica replied rolling her eyes. "Do you want to join us, Lily?"

"Sure, I'm starved."

"Hey, where are your friends?" Natalie wanted to know. Usually, Lily had come home to Llanfair with Jade, Farah, or Granger. Today, she had shown up all alone.

"Oh…umm…I went shopping with Farah, but she decided to go over Granger's."

"I thought _you _were Granger's girlfriend, not Farah," Jessica observed turning on the blender. "Why aren't _you _at Granger's with her?"

"Is everything okay?" Natalie added.

"Everything's fine," Lily sighed resting her head on the table. "Everything between Granger and me is fine. It's…it's Farah's boyfriend's birthday; you know, the one who died in the snowboarding accident? Well, Granger and Farah wanted to celebrate it. I offered to go and be there for him, but Granger insisted that I shouldn't. I don't know, things between Granger and me haven't been the same since…" Her voice trailed off.

"Since what?" Jessica asked.

"Never mind."

"_Knock knock!" Lily called playfully while quietly rapping her knuckles on the door of Granger's apartment. She had just gotten back from her Sweet Sixteen birthday party that David and Dorian threw her at Capricorn. Somehow, they had managed to convince Antonio to close the bar for the night, serve non-alcoholic drinks, and turn the whole place into a pink fantasy._

_"Only for you," Antonio had told her._

_"Who is it?" Granger's voice sang from behind the door._

_"It's me," Lily sang back in perfect harmony. "I'm here for the 'other' birthday present that you promised me. So come on, let's see it."_

_"Hold on, I'm almost ready!" She heard a crash and smiled to herself. _

_"Well, hurry up, will ya? I look like such an idiot just standing here!" She looked around, cautious about someone finding her here. Granger is eighteen and entitled to live on his own, but how would it look if someone she knew found her at his apartment close to midnight? Rex and Adriana had a loft upstairs, and Michael, Marcie, John, and Natalie lived in the Angel Square hotel. She shivered and hugged her white sweater around her glittering pink dress. "Granger, come on!"_

_A second later, the door opened a crack, and Lily could barely make out Granger's coffee colored eye. "What's the password?" he asked in a whisper._

_Lily giggled. "I love you."_

_"Correct." He opened the door wider and Lily hurried in._

_"What were you thinking making me wait out there so long? Like, half of my family lives here! Would you imagine what would happen if John caught me out here? He'd tell my parents! And I mean, maybe my mom and dad wouldn't freak, but Dorian? Oh, that's another story." She took off her sweater and threw it onto the couch. She finally looked up and saw the dim scene around her. "Oh…" she gasped._

_The room was dimly lighted by a thousand red candles giving off a warm, cinnamon scent. "Oh my god," she whispered taking a step forward. "Granger…it's…it's…" She could not find the words, but she knew exactly what she had in mind._

_Granger shook his head. "I should've known you wouldn't like it," he grumbled making his way over to the candles and attempting to blow them out."_

_"No, I love it!" Lily replied taking Granger's hand. "And I love you."_

"Ugh…" Lily set down her smoothie and clutched her stomach. She was feeling nauseous again, the same way she had been feeling that morning.

"Are you okay?" Natalie asked rubbing her cousin's back.

The nausea had stopped by now, taking Lily by surprise. "Yeah," she replied sitting back up. "I just felt sick for a minute, but now I'm fine. It went away."

"See, Jess, I told you that you put too much banana in those smoothies," Natalie groaned jokingly.

"Oh, come on, bananas are good for your stomach," Jessica argued.

"Jess, seriously, it wasn't your smoothie. I've just been…off today."

"Well, are you sure you're okay?" Jessica wanted to know. "Maybe we should call Michael and have him check you out."

"No, seriously, it's okay," Lily protested. She pulled out her cell phone. "Actually, I have to be at work in fifteen minutes, and then I'm sleeping over Dad and Dorian's, so I really should go."

"Well, are you okay driving?" Natalie asked standing up from her chair. "Maybe Jess and I should drop you off, just to make sure that you get there okay."

"No, I'm fine. I'm seriously fine. I felt worse this morning, but just now wasn't as bad."

"Okay, well if you're sure," Natalie said uncertainly.

"I'm sure," Lily replied in a rush. "I really have to go…see ya." Without any other word to either of her cousins, Lily left Llanfair.

* * *

Lily loved working at Lindsay's Art Gallery more than anything; it was her escape from home and from her friends, for that matter. No matter how messed up her life was, work was sort of like stepping into a different realm. Most of all, she loved working for Lindsay. Lindsay had been sort of like the motherly influence in Lily's life since Tina wasn't always around and Dorian and Lily never got along.

"It's very interesting," Lindsay observed. "Great angle and everything. Cristian, you have undeniable talent with a camera." Cristian Vega had stopped in with yet another amazing masterpiece. Whether painting or taking photographs, Lily always admired Cristian's work. "What do you call this, Cristian?"

"It doesn't have a name yet," Cristian admitted. "I just got finished with it, actually, and I wanted to show it to you before you closed for the night."

"Name or not, I love it!" Lily smiled peering over Lindsay's shoulder to look at the photograph. It was a picture of a canary that was flying into the sunset. The canary looked as if it were trying to escape its life…exactly how Lily was feeling these days.

"_It's okay if you're not ready," Granger said quickly. "I mean, I'm eighteen, I'm older, but you're only sixteen--"_

_"Granger, did you hear what I just said?" Lily smiled taking Granger's shoulders and making him look at her. "I am ready." She pressed her head against Granger's chest and inhaled his scent. "God, I love you. You're my escape from life."_

"Ugh!" The nausea was back. "_Where the hell is this coming from?" _Lily thought.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Lindsay asked putting an arm around the teenager. Cristian quickly set down the photograph and pulled out a chair for Lily to sit in.

"I don't know. This morning I was really sick, but I felt better, and this afternoon I started to feel sick again. I think I caught something…"

"Okay, well I'm going to take you to your dad's and Dorian's," Lindsay declared getting out her keys.

"No, Lindsay, please, I'll be fine. If we just show up, then Dorian is just going to be freaking annoying, and I can't handle that. Correction: I can't really handle her anyway, so--"

"Lily, you should really just listen to Lindsay," Cristian insisted. "Honestly, she's going to end up getting her way anyway, so it's better in the long run just to not waste her time."

"I'm _fine!_" Lily snapped. She ran her hand through her hair. "Look, I'm sorry, you guys, but I think it's better if I just take care of myself here." She tried to get up, but she still felt queasy.

"Out of the question." Lindsay put on her coat on. "Come on, you just need a good night's sleep, and I'll guarantee you will feel better tomorrow."

"Fine. Fine." Lily knew better than to fight Lindsay on this. Although she thought that she shouldn't make such a fuss over an upset stomach, but she still could not help but wonder if it was more than that.

"_Don't you think we should use protection?" Granger asked quickly while Lily was throwing her jewelry into her purse._

_"Protection from what?" Lily asked aggressively. She thought that she sounded like a slut, but she did not care. To her, the timing for everything was just right, and she did not want anything to stand in her way._

_"Lily," Granger tried to protest while his girlfriend was kissing his chest, "didn't your parents ever give you the safe sex lesson?"_

_"Safe sex?" Granger could tell that Lily was not listening. She was untying her hair that was done in a tight knot in the back of her neck. _

_"Never mind, we are talking about Tina and David. All right, Babe. If this is what you want, this is what you'll get." _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lily woke up the next morning feeling tired and cranky and quickly decided that the words "Lily" and "morning" do not belong in the same sentence. Pulling on her robe, she quickly tiptoed out of her room and was not surprised that David and Dorian's bedroom door was closed tightly after keeping her up half the night. "_La Boulaie's walls are too thin." _Today she had felt substantially better; she did not wake up with the need to throw up. Instead, she was starving and decided to raid the fridge before anyone else got up.

She silently made her way down the stairs looking around the large but rather empty house. It seemed so lifeless with everyone gone: Kelly and Zane had moved to Asa's with Kevin; Adriana was living with Rex; and Blair, Starr, and Jack had moved back into the penthouse with Todd. No one was around to talk to or hang out with. David was great, but after a few games of winning Scrabble against him, he was known to become a sore loser.

Dorian, on the other hand, was just not pleasant to be with at all. Ever since she and David said "I do," Lily had nicknamed her affectionately "The Wicked Stepmother." Since Tina was not really the "maternal type," Dorian stepped up to the plate and assumed all of the responsibilities.

"Did you take your vitamins this morning?"

"Don't eat that. It will spoil your appetite for dinner."

"It's ten after eleven! You know that your curfew is eleven!"

Lily sighed; it never stopped. As if that were not enough, she would always have to fall asleep to the sound of her father and stepmother giggling although they were all the way across the hall. You never won at the game of living at La Boulaie.

She finally got back to the kitchen practically on her tiptoes, but to her surprise, she could already smell food cooking.

"Jade!"

Sure enough, Jade was at the stove wearing Dorian's lace apron and David's chef hat cooking what seemed to be some sort of omelet. He had on the goofy grin that he always wore as he waved gaily to Lily. "Hiya, Lily!" he greeted waving the steam away from his eyes. "Are you in the mood for breakfast?"

Lily smiled gratefully. "My hero!" she sat down at the counter (but not too close because Blair and Kelly have told her stories about David and Dorian involving "said counter") and shook her head. "How did you get in?" she asked.

"Jack left his house key when he was over my house playing with Matthew. Umm, _technically, _I was supposed to give it back, but I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd stop by and brighten up your day."

"Well, you did a good job."

"Are you feeling better?"

"How do you know that I was sick?"

"I stopped by the gallery to see if you wanted to hang out after work, but Chris was there, and he told me that Lindsay brought you home because you were sick."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm feeling better. I'm just starving." She went to the refrigerator to pour herself a glass of orange juice.

"Don't worry, I almost have breakfast ready. Aunt Nora tells me that I can be the next Iron Chef if I wanted to. I _would, _but I want to become a rock star."

Lily raised her eyebrow. "A rock star?" she said trying to conceal her giggles. "Okay, I'm sorry. If you want to be a rock star, you go out there and be a rock star…just don't do it in front of me because I might just throw up this _delicious _breakfast that you're making for me."

"Good morning!" Dorian strode into the kitchen straightening her green business suit. She took a deep, cleansing yoga sigh. "I had the most _wonderful _night's sleep, and now I'm fresh and ready to go!"

"_Yeah, a good night's sleep," _Lily thought to herself. "_Right." _

"Oh, hello, Jake," Dorian greeted taking Jade's hand briefly. "I didn't know you were coming over."

"I called him last night," Lily said quickly, elbowing Jade under the counter almost knocking the spatula out of his hand. "We might go to that…thing today."

"Oh yes, I remember reading about that in the paper yesterday," Dorian replied absent-mindedly taking a sip of coffee. Lily giggled; whatever she and David were doing last night, it sure made her a space cadet. Unfortunately, Lily's chuckles pulled Dorian back into Earth's orbit. "What's so funny?" she asked glaring at her stepdaughter.

"Nothing. I…remembered something funny that Lindsay mentioned at work yesterday."

"And about Lindsay; she left me a note last night that you didn't feel well. Are you eating enough? Are you taking all of your vitamins?"

"_Here we go again."_

"I'm fine, Dorian. I just caught a bug, and now I'm fine. I just needed a good night sleep."

"I _told _you not to stay up late every night to watch reality TV. Next time you get yourself sick, don't come crying to me!"

"Who said I was going to?" Lily muttered under her breath. She glanced at Jade, who was trying to avoid eye contact with both Lily and Dorian as he slid pieces of bacon onto a plate.

"Top of the morning to you all!" Everyone turned to see David coming into the kitchen dressed in Dorian's white bathrobe. He pecked Dorian on the cheek beaming. "Hello, my little potato. I haven't been able to look at your beautiful face all night while I was drifting off to dreamland."

Lily rolled her eyes as she tried not to catch David and Dorian's cooing on the peripheral. "So, Jade!" she said loudly trying to alert her father that he and Dorian should stop flirting with each other. David looked at her abruptly and took the message.

"Good morning, squirt," he greeted kissing her on the top of her head. He looked from his daughter to her friend who was spooning home fries onto four different plates. "Jade my man!" he shouted holding his hand up for a high five. "Hit me up high!" Jade met his hand.

"Dude, did you see that new episode of _Girly Home Economics_?" Jade asked, his eyes wide with excitement. Lily thought that he was kidding at first, but she then saw the same excitement in David's eyes.

"Yeah, I know! I _never _knew how to crochet until I saw that show!"

"You know, I hate to interrupt this _fabulous _conversation about knitting or whatever the hell it is, but Dad, you and Dorian have to go to work, don't you?" She glared at David.

"Oh, umm, right. We'll be back around eight. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, Dorian told me that Lindsay left that note-"

"Of course she did."

"And I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Dad, I'm _fine. _Dorian is overreacting like she always is."

"Are you sure?"

"_Dad! _I'm not your little girl anymore, okay? I'm not that same distraught girl who wandered into Llanview a year ago. I'm sixteen, and I can take care of myself!"

"Lily." David looked like he wanted to reach out to his daughter, but he immediately stiffened. Instead, he turned to his wife and said, "Let's go."

Dorian opened her mouth to protest, but she took notice of David's stone cold expression. Without saying another word, the two of them walked out of La Boulaie leaving Lily and Jade alone.

Lily looked at Jade, who was raising his eyebrow at her. "What?" she snapped shaking her head as if Jade were a waste of her time.

Jade shrugged. "That was a little harsh."

"My God, Jade, _please _don't take their side on this!"

"I'm not. I'm on _your _side. Lily why do you want to treat your family like they're not important all of the sudden?"

"Dorian is _not _my family!"

"But David _is. _Lily, a year ago, you were jumping at the chance to spend time with your new family. Now it seems like you can't stand them. What changed?"

"Hmm…I don't know," Lily said sarcastically rolling her eyes. "A few weeks ago, Granger and I had sex for the first time, and now all he wants to do is spend time with _Farah! _What changed there?" She covered her mouth, realizing what she had said. She had not meant for anyone to find out; not yet at least. Jade's accusing expression dropped to that of sympathy.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." That's all he could say; he could not wrap his mind around it. Did Lily and Granger really have sex? Not that it was uncommon in their school; all of the kids were "doing it," but he did not think Lily would. "_Correction," _he told himself, "Last year _Lily wouldn't have done it. So much can change in a year." _

"Look, I'm sorry Jade, but right now I really should be alone."

"Fine." Jade turned off the stove and took off the apron and chef hat. "I have to give Jack his house key back anyway." He opened the door to let himself out.

"Thanks for the breakfast!" Lily called after him. _SLAM! _She felt a pang of guilt; maybe Jade was right. David never did anything to cause her to snap at him; neither did Jade. Why was she having sudden mood swings like this? If she did not know any better, she would have thought she was…

_"That was the most fun I have ever done in my life!" Lily breathed snuggling up to Granger. Granger put his arms around Lily and pulled her close._

_"I love you, Babe."_

_"I love you too. And I'm gonna love our baby."_

_Granger's eyes popped open. "Baby?"_

_"Yeah, after all that, you wouldn't be surprised if there was a little baby growing inside of me, would you? We're going to be parents!" She looked at her boyfriend shift around nervously. "I'm kidding!"_

_"And I love a girl with a sense of humor."_

"Oh my god!" Lily ran up to her bedroom to find her purse. After about ten minutes of knocking everything around, she found her bag in the most obvious place; on top of her dresser. She fumbled through it until she found her cell phone. As if her fingers were on fire, she quickly dialed those seven numbers on her phone, jammed it against her ear, and waited as the haunting ringing sound echoed over and over until someone finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Paige, it's Lily," she said quickly. "I'm at my dad's house. I really need you to come over right away…I think I might be pregnant."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lily lay sideways on her bed wrapping her arms around her flat stomach. If she was indeed pregnant, it would eventually get bigger, and soon she would look like she was carrying around a bowling ball; that is, if she chose to have the baby. She and Granger were not ready to be parents; all they ever talked about was what they were going to do together in a week, a month, a year. They never talked about marriage, and they _definitely _did not talk about kids. Why would they? They were both still in high school. _"Granger would not have to worry about it if he were not the father," _a voice out of nowhere echoed through her head. _"Granger is not the only person you have slept with; he's the only person that you _voluntarily _slept with." _She shot up like a bullet piercing the air; no, Granger _had _to be the father. He had to. Richard Patterson had raped her when she was just a little girl.

_"A good buddy of mine is a doctor. I figure we get that little baby growing inside of you, and we can transplant it into my wife. She won't know the difference, and you'll be nothing but a memory."_

"The masked man," Lily slowly breathed. She slowly recalled the events of the previous year when her psycho stepfather had kidnapped her. The original plan was to kill her, but his associate had been promised a child; and Lily was going to give him one. She remembered being drugged and knocked unconscious; that must have been when it happened. The next thing she knew, Bo and John were bringing her out of the house, and she was taken out of the hospital. The only time that she mentioned the rape was when Bo was taking her statement. After that, no one mentioned it. When Viki suggested that they got her checked out, she would shrug off the issue. When Sarah asked if she wanted to talk about it, Lily answered no; she did not feel like there was anything to be said. She was unconscious through the whole thing, and she could not remember it. Still, that does not mean that it did not happen, did it?

Lily did not know what happened to that man after that. Richard had been killed, but the man was never found. Was he waiting all along in Llanview for this to happen? No, he could not; this was a year ago. How would that man know that she would get pregnant in a year? That is, if she _was _pregnant.

_Ding-dong!_

Lily sprang from her bed and quickly ran down the stairs as fast as her feet could carry her. She flung the front doors opened revealing Paige Miller. "Oh, thank God you're here! I'm so sorry that I just called you over, but I don't know what to do!"

Paige put her arm around Lily. "Shh, it's okay. You know I'm here for you whenever you need me. You know that." She looked around the vast foyer of La Boulaie. "I take it that your parents don't know?"

"No, and you can't tell them," Lily replied in a rush. "If _anyone _would find out that I _thought _that I was pregnant…well, let's just say that we'd be lucky if Granger's head wasn't mounted over the fireplace."

"Gotcha; my lips are sealed," Paige promised. "Okay, well why don't we sit down? I want to ask you a few questions, and then we'll get you checked out."

"Where?"

"There's a clinic outside of town that we can go to. We can check you for STD's and to see if you really are pregnant."

"Granger doesn't have STD's," Lily replied quickly. Paige opened her mouth to speak, but she shut it.

"All right, but I still want to have you checked out just in case. Trust me, okay?"

"You're the doctor." She leaned against the wall and let out a huge, long sigh. One thing she forgot was dealing with her family if she _was _pregnant. As if David and Tina were not enough, she still had to deal with both sides of her extended family. She could just see their faces if she were to tell them…

_Lily looked at everyone who she summoned to Llanfair: David, Tina, Dorian, Asa, Renee, Bo, Clint, Viki, Todd, Adriana, Jessica, Natalie, Kevin, Kelly, Blair, Starr, Sarah, CJ, Jade, and most of all, Granger. All were squeezed into the library looking at her expectantly._

_"So, Lily, why did you call us all here?" Viki inquired; everyone nodded in agreement. Lily clasped her hands nervously._

_"Umm…I need to tell you all something. There is really is no easy way to say this. I'm pregnant."_

_There was no response from anybody at first. Finally, Granger looked up and whispered, "You're pregnant?"_

_"It's hilarious!" Todd spoke up clapping his hand on Granger's shoulder. "That chick is my niece, and she has a little bun in the oven! That is _so _freaking hilarious!"_

_"That is not hilarious! This is an outrage!" Lily glanced at David, whose face had turned beet red. He stomped over to Granger and knocked him down with a powerful punch. "You got my daughter pregnant! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"_

_Tina, meanwhile, had burst into tears. "Lily, how can you do this to us? I'm not fit to be a mother, let alone a grandmother! How could you ruin our lives like this?"_

_Lily backed up to a wall. "Everyone, stop! Dad, don't do that to Granger! Mom, stop making me feel worthless! I can't handle this!"_

"I can't handle this!" Lily ran into the living room and slammed herself onto the couch.

"Honey?" Paige cautiously placed her hand on Lily's shaking shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Lily shook her thoughts out of her head. "Yeah…I'm sorry, I was just…daydreaming. God, if I'm pregnant, then my whole family will be screwed up. Granger and I haven't really been talking for the past day, and he is grieving for his friend. And there is _definitely _no way that either of us are ready to be parents! I should've known better than to have jumped in bed with him without protection!"

"Umm…Lily?" Paige slowly sat down on the couch and took Lily's hand. "I know you probably don't want to think about this, but remember the thing that happened last year? You don't think that—?"

"The bastard who raped me when Richard kidnapped me could have fathered the baby? Yeah, I thought about that, but what are the odds? Granger and I had sex two months ago, and that guy raped me last year...or so I think. I can't really remember, and I never got checked out."

"Okay, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Okay, let me just ask you a few questions, and—"

"Paige? Umm…can we just get to the clinic? I want to find out as soon as possible."

"Of course. I'll start the car while you get ready." On that note, Paige left.

Lily slowly got up and looked around the living room of La Boulaie. If she _was _pregnant, this would be one of the places that she might raise her son or daughter, should she choose to keep it. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control. She was sixteen! This should be the year where she should be sneaking off to parties, drinking, and coming back home drunk trying not to get her parents to find out instead of popping kids out! She shook her head; the answers were just fifteen minutes away, and it was now or never. Taking one last look at her home, she hurried out the front door closing the door behind her.

* * *

For Granger, shooting darts at Rodi's was the best way to unwind. Not a lot of people were around at ten thirty; it was that block of time between the morning and lunch rush, and it was definitely the best time to go and think.

As he continued to shoot darts, he began to think about the events that took place the previous day; he had to revisit the painful memories of his best friend, George. Why did he have to die in the first place? He had too much to live for; Granger remembered Farah almost shutting down when she found out. She loved him, and he loved her, and Granger always had a mental image in his mind of them getting married ten years into the future; but George was dead, and maybe Farah was finally trying to get her love life back in order.

_"Happy birthday, George," Farah said wistfully blowing out the '18' candle on the cake that she and Granger had baked. "I hope you're celebrating up there in heaven. I love you and miss you so much." She looked down at her hand but remembered that she had taken off the gold band that would always be on her right middle finger._

_Granger put his arm around Farah. "You're not in this alone," he reminded her. "I miss him too. But you know what? I'll bet that if he were alive right now, he would be so proud of you."_

_"Really?"_

_"Really."_

_Farah stared into Granger's coffee colored eyes; she had never noticed how much sparkle they had in them, like a twinkling star. She looked away quickly. "Umm…I don't think he would be proud of me at the moment. I mean, he would hate it if he knew that I was still hung up on him! Ugh, I don't know what to do!"_

_"Hey, hey!" Granger took Farah's hand, sending an electrical shock through her body. Why was she feeling this way? The last time she felt like this, it was because of George. Slowly lifting her head, she pressed her lips onto Granger's._

"Damn it!" Granger chucked a dart at the board, but in his fury, it had missed and was now implanted in the wall. What has he done? He and Lily had been together for a year, and now he was going off and kissing his friends.

"Hey," a familiar voice called. Granger turned with a start to see Jade coming towards him. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Granger said with a shrug, "just throwing darts."

"Which you only do when you need to think; so cough it up. What are you so upset about?"

Granger looked at his friend's goofy face. No matter how funny Jade was when he wanted to be, he always was a good person to bounce things off of. Still, though, he was Lily's best friend, and if he had _ever _found out that Granger kissed Farah, then he would personally strangle Granger and take Lily out of the country.

"I was just thinking about George. I miss him so much, and I wish you could have known him."

"Well, I think I can see some of his good qualities in Farah," Jade grinned. "Ginny told me that Farah used to be a tramp before she met George, and now look at her; she's such a wonderful person."

"Yeah," Granger said in a distant voice. "Very wonderful."

_After what seemed like an eternity, Granger pulled away from the kiss. "I cannot believe that I've just done that!" he exclaimed. He looked at Farah, who had put her hand on her mouth and was taking rapid breaths._

_"I'm so sorry!" she cried burying her face in her hands. "I shouldn't have done that! You're with Lily, and she's my best friend! Oh, God, I should _not _have done that!"_

_Granger took a second to regain his composure. "Farah, no." He pulled her hands away from her face. "No, don't beat yourself up about that. You're grieving for your boyfriend, and I was trying to comfort you. It's my fault too."_

_Farah fanned herself quickly. "Let's just pretend it never happened." Secretly, though, she wished that it could have lasted one extra second._

"You know what? Let's not talk about Farah. Let's talk about Lily."

Jade gave a low whistle. "Well, we have a _lot _to talk about there, man."

Granger looked alarmed. "What do you mean?" Did Jade find out that he and Farah kissed? Did he tell Lily?

"She's been acting…strange lately," Jade confessed. "She got sick a couple of times yesterday, and I was at her house this morning, and she really started going at it with David and Dorian.

Granger mentally let out a sigh of relief. "Well, she's probably tired," he pointed out. "She's been working at Lindsay's Art Gallery more than usual, and her sophomore year of high school is starting soon."

"Yeah, but I'm still worried about her," Jade frowned. "Did you talk to her at all last night?"

"No, I didn't get a chance to?" _"Nor could I even think of it with all of that insanity with Farah," _he thought to himself.

_"You know what? This has been fun, but I think that I'd better be going." Farah grabbed her purse. "Umm…I'll talk to you later, I guess."_

_"I guess." Granger walked Farah to the door. "Umm, Farah? Can I ask you something?"_

_Farah smiled warmly. "Anything."_

_"The kiss…look, I know that we agreed not to talk about it, but—"_

_"You don't regret it?"_

_"Well, I do in a way. I mean, I'm with Lily, and I love her…look, what I'm trying to say is…you're a good kisser, and I think that you'll make someone happy someday. Just because George is not here doesn't mean that your life is over."_

* * *

"Where is the doctor?" Lily jumped off of the table and started to pace around the cubicle. "She went to get the test results, like, forever ago! Why isn't she back yet?"

"Honey, I need you to calm down," Paige said gently. "The doctor will be back in a few minutes, and then we'll decide what to do from there."

"You're making it sound like I am pregnant!" Lily cried. "I don't know if I am yet, but if I am, there is that little problem of figuring out if Granger is the father."

"Let's cross that bridge when it comes, okay? Come on, sweetie, why don't you sit down? You're going to make yourself sick if you keep worrying yourself with 'what ifs.'"

Letting out a huge sigh, Lily finally gave in and sat back down on the table. "I hope that doctor hurries up, though, because this is killing me!"

As if she was psychic, the door opened, and the doctor, a matronly looking red head, came in with a clipboard. "Miss Vickers, Dr. Miller," she said warmly, "I have the test results back."

Paige calmly nodded, but Lily felt as if she could attack the doctor. "So? Am I pregnant or not?" she asked shakily. For a millisecond, she felt like she did not want to know the answer. Still, she needed to know.

"Well, Miss Vickers, we ran the tests, and they are 99.9 accurate," the doctor replied. "I'll let you see the results for yourself."

Lily reached out to take the clipboard and to read the single piece of paper that would determine the rest of her life.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Pregnant," Lily said in a voice barely above a whisper. She half-heartedly folded the test results and handed them to Paige.

The clinic doctor looked from Lily to Paige. "I'll leave you two alone," she said quietly leaving the cubicle. Paige looked over the test results for a moment and walked over to Lily.

"Hey," she whispered, "why don't we get out of here, huh? I think you need some time to yourself to think about this." All Lily could do was nod; somehow, she just felt emotionally tapped out. There were so many questions that were unanswered: one was how could she break this news to Granger and her parents? She silently let Paige help her off the table and out of the cubicle.

_"A baby…there's a baby growing inside of me," _Lily thought as she and Paige started driving away from the clinic; the damn clinic. It seemed like a portion of Hell now that it gave her the scariest news of her life. Neither of them spoke throughout the ride home until Paige pulled into the driveway.

"Do you want me to stay with you until your father gets home?" Paige asked gently.

"Oh, no—I mean, thank you, but I just need to stay by myself right now." Lily grabbed her bag and started to climb out of the car, her hand never leaving her stomach, where it was rested for the duration of the ride home. "Paige, thank you so much for bringing me to the clinic, but can I ask you for one more favor?"

"What's that, sweetie?"

"Can you not tell anyone about this? Nobody else can know about me being pregnant yet."

Paige took Lily's hand and stared straight into her soft hazel eyes. "I'm not going to tell a soul. Lily, I want you to know that whatever you decide to do is your choice, okay? Nobody can tell you what to do from here."

"Thanks…I know." She shut the door of the car and walked slowly up the steps to La Boulaie as Paige pulled away. As she slowly tiptoed into the living room and climbed gently onto the sofa, she realized that she felt so heavy; probably it was her psyche reminding her that she had a baby growing inside of her. She slowly reclined back on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest. What _was _she going to do now?

She laid like that for what seemed like forever. Her eyes felt heavy, but she felt like she could not sleep. How could she? She had so much on her mind that she would be surprised if she could ever think again. Still, she did feel tired. Maybe a small nap would not hurt…

_Bang!_

"Lily! Are you here?"

"Oh…" Lily groaned. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I'm in here!" she called.

She watched as her cousin, Starr Manning, and her friend Langston Wilde emerge from the kitchen. "We thought we'd see you here," Starr beamed strolling into the living room and sitting down on the chair across from Lily. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I, uh—nothing."

"Well, are you doing anything tonight?" Langston prompted sitting on one of the arms of the couch.

"Not particularly. Why?"

"Gabe is throwing this awesome party at his house…sort of like an end of the summer bash before high school takes over," Starr explained. "I'm sure Granger told you about it."

"No…I haven't talked to Granger since yesterday."

"Oh. Well, do you want to go?" Lily looked from Starr to Langston; both of them were looking back at her expectantly. No, of course she did not want to go to some stupid party. Why would she want to when she found out she was preg—no, she would not say it. She would not even think of it.

"Umm, I don't know, you guys. You know, after what happened last time I went to a party—"

"Oh, come on, it will be fun," Langston interrupted dismissively, "and we'll promise to keep you away from the booze this time."

"That's _not _what I was worried about," Lily muttered quietly.

_"Have you two seen Lily?" Granger asked Starr and Cole. It was nearly midnight, and he had not seen Lily around the party for about an hour._

_"No. She said she was looking for you," Starr replied. _

_"I wonder where she could—"_

_"Cannonball!" a loud but familiar voice shouted._

_"…be," Granger finished. He, Starr, and Cole turned to the door to see Lily stumble into the room, pushing herself amongst the crowd that was dancing wildly._

_"Oh, I looooove this song!" she slurred, her eyes rolling around in her sockets. Suddenly, she started looking around the room. "Granger! Granger! Where are you? Come dance with me!" She looked around to see everyone around her staring at her. "What? I'm just looking for my man. Granger, I need you!"_

_"I'm right here, Babe!" Granger rushed through the people and put his arms around Lily, who looked as if she were about to fall over. "What happened to you?"_

_"Why the hell would you say something like that? I'm fine, I'm—damn, it's a wonder what a beer can do to you! I've never felt so alive!"_

_"Oh, so you've been drinking?"_

_"Just a half a—hic—bottle." Suddenly, her expression turned vague and distant. "You know what? I don't feel so alive anymore. I feel—"And with that, she passed out right in Granger's arms._

"You know, you were so funny when you were drunk," Starr remembered.

"It's _not _that!" Lily repeated. "I just—tonight I'm going back to Viki's to stay with my mom…uh, not that she'd even be home, but I don't want to explain to Viki why I am sneaking into my room through my window at three o'clock in the morning."

"Oh come on. Aunt Viki and Clint Buchanan are back together; she probably won't even notice that you're gone."

"No."

"A few hours."

"No."

"Two hours."

"No."

"One hour."

"If I go for an hour, would you quit bugging me?"

"Yes!" Starr and Langston earnestly replied at the same time. Lily sighed; she did not know why she was saying yes, but she was too tired to keep fighting with Starr and Langston. Who knows? Maybe an hour away from all of this craziness would help her out in the long run.

"Fine. I'll go, but just for an hour. Then, I am going _home._"

"Man, since when did you become so uptight?" Langston observed raising her eyebrow.

Lily rolled her eyes. "What the hell is _that _supposed to mean?"

"What I _mean _is that you and Granger are always the ones going to parties. You would call _us _at midnight telling us to get over to whoever is throwing the latest bash. Now we're practically begging you to come."

"There's only one explanation for this," Starr added tapping her chin. She eyed her cousin from head to toe and smiled knowingly but sympathetically. "Is everything okay with you and Granger?"

_"And here's the question of the day," _Lily thought to herself leaning back against the couch. Things were a little strained over the past few days, but that was because Granger was remembering the painful loss of his best friend. Everything will be fine…until she told him about the baby. "Of course everything is okay," she snapped impatiently. "Everything is more than okay. In fact, I'll call Granger right now."

* * *

Granger looked around Rodi's finding _something _to keep him occupied. He had been shooting pool and darts for hours, and if he ordered another bacon cheeseburger, he would gain a thousand pounds. Yet, he did not want to leave for some reason. Rodi's was his place for thinking, and no way was he finished thinking.

A sudden vibrating noise pulled him out of his thoughts. He absent-mindedly pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it before checking who it was. "Hello?"

"Granger? It's me."

"Lily." A pit the size of a basketball formed in his stomach. "Hey? What's up?"

"Are you okay?" Lily's voice seemed to be trembling as she spoke. "I have been calling and texting you a million times, but you wouldn't answer."

"Sorry, Babe, I was just thinking."

"About George?"

"Umm…yeah."

The thing Granger hated most in the world was awkward silences, but this silence was deafening. "Babe…why is your voice shaking?"

"Oh, umm…I'm not feeling well."

"I know. Jade told me."

"Uh, Granger? Starr and Langston wanted to know if we were going to that party at Gabe's house." Granger noticed how she seemed desperate to make conversation.

_Did _he want to go to the party? If he and Lily went, then that would mean that Farah was there, and he really did not want to spend the whole time glancing at Farah uneasily worrying that Lily would find out that they kissed.

"You don't have to go," Lily continued quickly. "I was just going for an hour or so and then going home."

"N-no, it's fine," Granger interrupted abruptly. "Uh, I'll pick you up…later. See ya."

* * *

"Doesn't anyone say good-bye anymore?" Lily groaned closing her phone and flopping back on the couch. She was oblivious that Starr and Langston were still in the room until she opened her eyes and saw them standing over her with expectant expressions on their faces. "You two wouldn't happen to _want _anything while you're standing over me gawking like idiots, would you?" she snapped making the two girls jump away from her.

"Are you okay?" Starr asked cautiously taking a wary step forward.

"Yes, I'm fine." Lily slowly climbed off of the couch. "Granger and I will be at the party, stay there for an hour, and go _home. _Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a nap upstairs. _Alone._" With that, she ran up to her room and slammed the door. Starr could have sworn that the whole mansion quivered.

* * *

Although it had taken Lily about an hour to fall back asleep, she had rested peacefully for a long time. She had no ongoing nightmare, at least, about telling Granger or her family about the baby. She just seemed to be in a thoughtless daze of nothingness until she was woken up abruptly by her vibrating phone.

"Effin' phone!" she groaned rubbing her eyes and groping around her bedside table for the cell phone. Finally she reached it and through blurry vision, she read the text message, _"Busy. Meet me at the party instead?"_

"Fine," she answered aloud, as if the text message could talk. Granger was avoiding her _again; _what a surprise.

She slowly climbed out of bed, her body sore from lack of stretching. Why was she even going out of her way to go to a party for an hour when her boyfriend did not even want to go? If only they could go somewhere quieter and more peaceful, like Asa's yacht. As they were riding out into the moonlight, she would take his hand and tell him the news; the life changing news that they were going to be parents.

And how would he respond? Honestly, Lily did not know if it was going to positive or negative. In a perfect world, of course, Granger would take her by the shoulders and whisper soothingly in her ear that everything was going to be okay and that they would figure everything out together; but the way that he has been acting lately, Lily almost knew that would not be the case.

"I don't know what to do!" she yelled in a hoarse voice throwing her phone as hard as she could across the room. She watched it break in half as it hit the wall and fall to the ground. What would Granger want her to do?

_"Babe, you _were _kidding when you were saying all that baby talk last night, weren't you?" _

_It was the next morning, and Lily had just gotten out of the shower; she had not felt this great in a long time._

_"Of course I was. You don't think that one night of sex would want me to start popping out babies, did you?" Lily giggled as she pulled her long, wet blonde hair into a ponytail. "No. I'm too crazy about you to start even thinking about kids. I don't even know if I want kids."_

_"I don't know either," Granger agreed. He was still reclining in the bed reading that morning's issue of _The Sun. _"But a little baby with your genes wouldn't be so bad."_

_"A little baby with _your _genes wouldn't be so bad, either." _

Suddenly, Lily got a sense of clarity. Who would care if she told Granger at a party where probably half the people would be drunk? The fact was that she had to tell her boyfriend that she was having _his _baby right away, and if the background noise was going to be a little too loud for her taste, then so be it. Not even bothering to get changed into more appropriate attire for a party, she grabbed her car keys and purse and rushed out the door.

* * *

_Ding-dong!_

"Granger, glad you could make it!" Gabe, the host of the party, high-fived Granger and stepped aside to let him inside. "Where's Lily?"

"She'll be here soon…I think," Granger mumbled observing the loud music and wild dancing. He already knew that the beer keg was in the back yard. Usually, he and Lily were the first ones on the dance floor. They were always the life of the party. Shaking his head, he ventured into the house to find something to occupy him until his girlfriend arrived and things got more awkward.

"Granger!" Granger spun around to see Farah hurrying toward him.

"Farah, hey. I, uh, didn't know you would be here."

"Likewise," Farah shrugged, "but now that you're here, I would think that Lily would be here too, unless…" She clapped her hand over her mouth in horror. "Oh my god, she found out, didn't she? Oh my god, I have to go explain to her—"

"Farah." Granger clapped his hand on Farah's shoulder. "No, she doesn't know. She's meeting me here, that's all."

"Oh." Farah exhaled with relief. "Okay, well…I'll see you around, then."

"Wait. We still need to talk about what happened."

"I thought we already did, and frankly, I don't know if I can handle more." She tried to walk away, but Granger stopped her.

"I still have something that needs to be said, and I need to say it now. Come on; let's go somewhere where no one is around." He led Farah across the room until they found a closed door. "Is anyone in there?" He knocked firmly, but no one answered. "Come on." He opened the door and looked around. It was not just a room; it was a bedroom. "If this is too awkward—"

"No, it's fine," Farah interrupted stiffly. "This is the only empty room where we can talk, so this is fine." She sat down warily on the bed and looked up at Granger. "So, what do you want to tell me?"

"That day when we…you know, kissed," Granger started. "I thought it was an accident and just a huge mistake; I loved Lily and still do, but…" He walked over to Farah and took her hand. "I'm finding out that I'm getting feelings for you."

_"Damn his touch!" _Farah thought. She shivered; how could the warmth of his hand make her whole body tingle like that? Should she tell him that the feelings were mutual? How could she lie to him if she denied it? Still, Lily was her best friend—

"I'm getting feelings for you too," she blurted out. She covered her mouth in astonishment; so much for loyalty to her best friend. Still, once those fateful words had come out of her mouth, she kept talking. "That kiss wasn't just a comfort kiss. I have been over George for a long time. I have actually had a crush on you for months, and celebrating George's birthday was just a way to get us alone." There, she said it. Those burning words had finally left her mouth. Did she dare look back up at Granger? "Granger, I'm—"

"Don't talk," Granger demanded, pushing her back onto the bed. "Please, just don't talk." It time to do what they have been longing to do for a long time, and no one could hold them back; not even Lily.

* * *

_Knock knock!_

"Lily!" Gabe greeted. "Finally, you're here. It's kind of scary seeing Granger alone—"

"Yeah, yeah, where is he?" Lily interrupted pushing past the host. Not waiting for an answer (or caring for that matter), she looked frantically around the house. It would take _forever _to find him with this mob crowding the house!

"I know where Granger is!" a high, playful voice crooned from behind. Lily turned around to see Sandy standing behind her.

"I thought I'd see the last of you when we banished you from our lives," Lily snapped coldly to her ex-friend. "Unfortunately, I was wrong. Get out of the way, I have to find Granger!" She pushed the blonde girl out of the way to go into the backyard, but Sandy just followed her.

"You won't find him back there!" Sandy called to Lily. "Sadly, Granger's behavior wasn't driven by beer although it would be quite funny all the same."

"Would you just shut up, you slut?" Lily shrieked, using everything in her to stop herself from lunging onto Sandy. "I need to find Granger!"

"He's in there, if you really want to know." Sandy pointed slyly to the closed door that was nearby them. "But I wouldn't go in there if I were you. You might walk in on something you don't want to see."

"Right, I'll humor you." Lily strode over to the door. "I _really _don't want to walk in on him gelling his hair again. With that, she opened threw open the door. "You s—"

What she saw was definitely something she did not want to see; _far _worse than Granger gelling his hair. "Oh my god!" she gasped clutching her heart; it felt as if it were going to burst. "Oh my god!" With that, everything just went black.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lily awoke with a start—to no sound, but she was startled all the same at _something. _Where was she? Llanfair? No. La Boulaie? No. After observing her surroundings for a moment, she realized that she was in Starr's room at the penthouse. How the hell did she get there? She strained her mind to recall the events from the previous night, which seemed almost impossible considering she felt as if a hammer had hit her in the head one thousand times. As if she had pulled the right book off the shelf in the library, the memory came back to her.

_"Lily! Lily!" Lily heard Starr's faint voice somewhere. She felt as if she was floating away, and someone was calling her back. "Oh my god, Cole, what's wrong with her?"_

_"I don't know." Cole's voice echoed throughout the blackness. "She's breathing, though. I think she just passed out."_

_"Let me look at her. My mom's a nurse; I know what to look for—"_

_"Oh no, Granger," Starr snapped. "You're not getting anywhere near her. Why don't you just go get dressed and get out of here?"_

_"Granger…" Lily felt herself being pulled forcefully through the dark space of nothing until her eyes fluttered open taking the blurry scene in before her. Granger was nowhere to be seen, but everyone else at the party had gathered around her like a mob of news reporters trying to get their own exclusive story. _

_"Hey, she's waking up!" someone from the crowd shouted. _

_"And that's your cue to back up and enjoy the rest of the party!" Markko called trying to shoo the crowd away. As soon as most of the people gradually dispersed, he joined Cole, Starr, and Langston, who were kneeling next to Lily. "Is she okay? I think we should call an ambulance or something."_

_"I'm fine, Markko!" Lily protested. She tried to muster enough strength to sit up, but she felt too weak to do anything. "I'm not going to a hospital. How did I…?" Her words were slurred as if she was drunk, and it was almost as if her mind was not letting her finish the sentence._

_"What are we going to do?" Markko asked. "We can't just walk into her mom's house and be like 'Oh, we were at this party, and she passed out because her boyfriend was fu—"_

_"Markko!" Langston hissed slapping her hand over her boyfriend's mouth. Suddenly, Lily sat up as if she had just chugged a thousand Red Bulls._

_"Granger was _what, _Markko?" she retorted. With that, her hand flew to her head. Everything was coming back as if a river was breaking forcefully through a beaver's dam. Yes, she remembered it all perfectly: opening the door and finding Granger and Farah…she could not even finish her thought. How? Why? Rage slowly ignited through her, a small spark at first, but it turned into a full force flame._

_"WHERE ARE THEY?" she screamed jumping to her feet; Starr, Cole, Langston, and Markko had jumped up with her in fears that she would fall at any moment. "WHERE ARE THEY?" her eyes darted around the crowd trying to find the two offenders who had committed the crime of breaking her heart. _

_"Lily." Starr took her incensed cousin's wrists, a useless attempt to restrain her. "Listen, they're going now. They're going to be gone really soon, so—" She stopped as Lily burst into tears._

_"Why did he have to do that to me?" she sobbed. She was shaking so much that it looked as if she was having seizures. "Why? Why did he have to just drop me like a vase like that? He just let me shatter. He hurt me, he tore me apart, right when I was about to tell him that—" She collapsed then, barely falling into Cole's arms._

"Go to hell," Lily cursed to the air. "You both can just rot in hell." She felt the tears wanting to rush out of her face, but she felt like a dried up sponge that's water had been squeezed out of it. No, Granger would not do that to her. Neither would Farah. Both of them had told her that she was so important to them. Well, obviously she was not important enough that they would think before jumping into bed together.

It was not like she could just forget about Granger either. A part of him was inside of her, literally at that. How ironic was it that Granger cheated on her when she was just about to tell him that they were having a baby. If this was God's way of a joke, then He has a rotten sense of humor.

A squeaking sound caused her to jump, and her eyes searched for the source of the sound that disturbed her peace—if you could call laying around asking questions that could not be answered about her relationship and feeling sorry for herself peace; she saw the door opened to a crack, and Starr and Langston were peering in the room.

"Oh my god, she's awake!" Starr whispered. The two teenaged girls shuffled into the bedroom, gazing at Lily as if she were about to break. Lily held their gaze for a moment before deciding to break the silence.

"What?" she snapped. She knew it was rude, but frankly, she did not care. Hormones from the pregnancy and the shock of Granger and Farah's affair were getting the better of her, and she simply could not handle it.

"Oh, umm," Starr started as if trying to find a place to begin. "Do you remember anything at all about the party last night?"

Lily inhaled as if gathering enough strength to explain something complicated to a five year old. "Yes, Starr, I remember walking in on Granger and Farah with no clothes on rolling around on a bed with their tongues down each other's larynxes." She surprised herself with how patient she sounded, but it was all she could do to keep herself from breaking down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Langston asked cautiously.

"No," Lily replied bluntly. "I'm David Vickers and Tina Lord's daughter. I should know how to handle this. I mean, this…relationship was just a rest area, right? If the apple does not fall far from the tree, then I will probably be married at least five times and have thousands of more boyfriends at that. Throw in a few bouncing babies, and I'm good to go." She was about to add "I'm getting a head start in that category" but she stopped herself. She wanted no one, not even Starr, to find out that she was pregnant, and even if they knew, she really did not want to get into that right now.

"Look," she continued looking up at her friends, "I appreciate that you want to help me, but please don't get yourselves involved with this. I don't know if you ever had a guy cheat on you, but it sucks, and I really don't want to share the wealth of that with you." She slowly climbed out of the bed. Apparently, she had regained some of her strength over the night. "Hey, I was supposed to stay at Llanfair last night. Did you call Aunt Viki?"

"Yeah," Starr replied. "We told her that we were watching movies here, and you totally crashed on the couch, and we could not get you up."

"What about getting me here though? Did Todd and Blair see?"

"No, they were at some benefit dinner for 'The Sun'. They got home hours after we did, and we told them the same story."

"Oh, okay." Lily inched towards the door. "Thank you so much for taking care of me, but I really need to take care of myself right now." _"And this kid that's going to pop out in nine months," _she thought under her breath. "I'll call you guys…eventually." Without saying good-bye, she hurried downstairs and out of the penthouse.

* * *

"Hi, honey, it's Mom. Whenever you can, I think you should come back to Llanfair. There's someone here who I want you to see!"

"Lily, it's Lindsay. Are you coming into work today? Maybe I got the scheduling mixed up. Anyway, even if you did, you don't need to come into the gallery, it's pretty slow today."

"Hey, Lily, it's Paige. I just wanted to check up on you and what we discussed yesterday. Call me if you need anything."

"Lil, it's Jade. Starr called me and told me what happened last night. Well, it was hard to miss, everyone's blogs talked about it, but you don't want to hear about that. Call me back, okay? I need to hear that you're okay."

Out of all of the messages that Lily had received that morning, all she really cared about was Jade's. Her three true friends were Granger, Farah, and Jade, and now, she only had Jade left. She did not even feel like calling him back; she had to see him in person. Not really thinking, she allowed herself to walk to the Buchanan mansion.

Though it took awhile to walk from the penthouse to Asa's house, Lily found the walk somewhat refreshing. It was a nice morning that most people would take advantage of and drive to the shore, so nobody seemed to be around to stop and make small talk with her. How long did it take her to walk there? Hours, minutes? All she knew was that she wanted to see Jade's face as soon as possible.

Eventually, she had made it to the mansion. She felt somewhat invigorated that she had walked all that way but emotionally weak. Needless to say, she was relieved when her thumb pressed that doorbell. A moment later, the door opened, and Matthew had answered the door.

"Are you okay?" he asked brusquely as soon as he had caught glimpse of his cousin.

"Hello to you too, Matthew," she replied under her breath. "Yes, I'm fine. Why would you ask?" Did news of Granger cheating on her _really _reach the middle school students?

"Oh, I don't know. You just look a little tired. That's all, really."

"Oh." Lily did not know how to respond. "Well, I just walked here from Todd's, actually. It was a long walk. Listen, is Jade here? I really need to talk to him."

"Yeah. He's watching T.V."

"Thanks, Matthew. I'll see you around." Desperately wanting to see Jade, she pushed past Matthew and hurried into the house, hoping to not run into Nora, Clint, or Asa. Nora would clearly sense that something was wrong, Asa would want to talk about recruiting her into an internship at Buchanan Enterprises, and Clint would just want to talk about her upcoming sophomore year. No, it would just be better if she got to Jade right away.

"Jade!" she cried as she almost fell into the living room. Jade turned around with a start. As soon as he saw Lily, he turned off the T.V. (which was broadcasting his and David's favorite, "Girly Home Economics")

"Lily," he replied as he stood up. "I don't know if you got my message, but I heard—"

"He left me," Lily finished in an empty, hollow voice as she closed the doors to the room. "He left me, and I am nothing without him." She clutched the doorknob as if she were holding onto her life and started sliding down against the door. Jade made his way to Lily and wrapped his arms around his best friend.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered into her ear. "I really am sorry."

* * *

"Farah!" Granger knocked on the door of Farah's condo. "Farah, I know you're home! Open the door!" Granger was still unable to call Lily and explain what happened, but he had to talk to _someone_, and that was Farah. They had not talked after they had gotten dressed and discreetly left the party the previous night, but he still had to talk to her about it. "Farah, if you don't open this door, I'm going to break it down!"

On that threatening note, the door had opened. "About time—oh, Ginny. What's up?" Of course, Farah's sister had answered the door, and of _course, _she looked mad at Granger.

"Don't 'what's up' me, Granger," she snapped. "I knew my sister has been after you for awhile, but that doesn't mean you had to get her hopes up by jumping into bed with her."

"So you don't feel bad for Lily," Granger shot back coolly. "Just Farah because I made her 'hopeful.'"

"Of _course _I feel bad for Lily," Ginny replied. "I still consider her my friend although we have grown apart. You hurt her so much, Granger. You hurt everyone involved, including yourself."

"I know," Granger replied heavily, "I just…I couldn't fight my feelings."

* * *

"Starr and Langston convinced me to go to Gabe's party last night," Lily explained. She was lounging on the couch in Asa's living room and felt as if she were talking to Dr. Phil instead of Jade. "I invited Granger, and he said that he would meet me there. I had to tell him something important, so as soon as I got to the party, I went off looking for him. That's when I ran into Sandy, and she told me that he was in this bedroom doing something that I wouldn't like. I didn't believe her, so I opened the door, and—"

"There they were," Jade finished. He got off of the armchair that he was sitting in and took Lily's hand. "I'm sorry, honey. You deserve so much better."

"Jade, you really have nothing to be sorry about. I just let myself get sucked in. That's all. You really don't have to feel bad for me. I'm fine. I always am."

"You always will be. I have no doubt about that. But you can't keep it all bottled up. You can cry. You can scream. You can do anything you want to get your feelings out." He looked into Lily's eyes: they were sparkling like diamonds. They are _always _diamonds.

"I can't," Lily protested. "Everyone will think I'm a basket case."

"Nobody's here but me," Jade insisted, "and you know that I won't tell anyone that you were crying."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Jade let Lily fall onto him. Emotion was overcoming both of them. How could it not? Granger was Jade's friend, and he had hurt Jade by hurting Lily. As if they were cars on cruise control, Lily and Jade lifted their heads…and slowly but tenderly pressed their lips together.

* * *

"Farah isn't home, by the way," Ginny continued motioning for Granger to sit down, "but you can wait for her, if you want. She went to the store."

"Okay. I'll try not to get in your way," Granger replied leaning back in the armchair that he was sitting in. Why was he feeling so uncomfortable around Ginny? The two of them used to be best friends…the group; the original group. He remembered when Jade introduced Lily to all of them and set him and her up.

"_Anyway!" Jade continued. "Lily these are my friends. This is Sandy."_

_The giggling blonde girl, who was still thinking about David, just raised her hand in reply._

_"Aiden, Sandy's boyfriend."_

_"Sup," replied a boy with sand colored hair and piercing blue eyes._

_"Leigh."_

_The girl with the long, black hair gave a wave._

_"Enrique, Leigh's boyfriend."_

_A Latino boyfriend grinned at Lily._

_"Connie, one of my, umm, good friends."_

_"Hey," a red haired girl greeted before grinning up at Jade. Lily already guessed that this girl was the same girl that Jade had a crush on._

_"Ginny."_

_"Hi," the girl with the brown bob smiled warmly._

_"Steve, Ginny's boyfriend."_

_The boy with his arm around Ginny's shoulders wiggled his fingers._

_"Farah, Ginny's sister."_

_A girl with short, golden hair and a lot of makeup smiled briefly._

_"And Granger."_

* * *

Sure, over the last year, the group had dissolved, but Granger absolutely killed it when he slept with Farah. He lost the most precious thing in his life, and that was Lily.

"Well, I'll be a horse's uncle, Lily! You and Jake here are as cozy stallion and its mare during mating season!" Lily and Jade broke apart abruptly to see Asa, Renee, Nora, Clint, and Matthew standing in the doorway of the living room.

"Are you two together?" Matthew added eagerly. "Wouldn't that be so cool? My cousin from my mom's side is dating my cousin from my dad's side?"

"Wouldn't be the first time that that's happened in this town," Clint observed.

Lily looked at Jade as if begging for help. They did not mean to kiss. It just…happened. Of _course_ with Lily's luck, that's when her family walked in. Karma would not have it any other way.

"No. Jade and I aren't…together," Lily managed to say getting up from the couch (which was hard when all of the embarrassment inside of her was weighing her down). "We were, umm…uh—"

"Lily's auditioning for 'Romeo and Juliet' at school this year, and she asked me if she was a good kisser, because you know they have a _lot _of kissing scenes," Jade finished rambling on.

"Oh, and you're kissing Jade instead of your own boyfriend because…" Matthew started. His face looked genuinely confused.

"Matthew!" Nora scolded. She glanced at the two teenagers in apology. "Look, you two really don't need any explanation for whatever you were doing; we all just wanted to watch the news—"

"Conveniently everyone in this house wanted to watch it at the same time," Jade muttered.

"It's okay, Nora," Lily replied with a sigh. She looked over at Matthew. "Granger and I broke up."

"So the rumors on Myspace _are _true! Did Granger really cheat on you with Farah?" Matthew gasped. His eyes widened with horror as soon as he finished that statement. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lily, I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine, Matthew." Lily held her hand up. She was through listening to other people's sympathy. She could hardly stomach it at all. "Yes, it's true, and that's really all I want to say about that matter." After taking a moment to compose herself (while feeling the watchful eyes of everyone in the room on her), she looked up at Asa. "What's new at B.E., Grandpa?"

"Funny you should mention that," Asa grinned with pride; he always did while talking about Buchanan Enterprises. "It just so happens that I did the principal at your high school a nice little favor, Lily, and he's going to get B.E. some publicity."

"What did you do?" Jade asked looking genuinely interested. Lily secretly knew that one day Jade would work at Buchanan Enterprises.

"I really don't think that I should say it," Asa replied winking at the teenagers, "but let's just say that I helped the school board save a nice portion of their wallet. Anyway, to get B.E. some extra publicity, there is going to be a beginning-of-school dance next week." He beamed as if it were the proudest accomplishment of his life as Jade and Lily just stared at him.

"And?" they both spat out at the same time.

"And it will be a lot of fun for you and your posse."

Jade snorted into his palm. "Where does B.E. come in?" Lily inquired.

"Oh, well, umm…I think the B.E. logo is going to be on the napkins next to the punch bowl."

"I designed them!" Renee chimed in cheerfully.

"Right. I'll just _pretend _that I understand why this is going to help B.E." Lily raised her eyebrows. "Well, if this dance is in honor of my family, then I will be _happy _to go."

"Well, we had a board meeting today," Clint explained. "Mr. Randolph was very thankful that we helped out the school, and I think he is thanking us more than putting out logo on the napkins."

"Mr. Randolph?" Jade and Lily repeated in unison.

"Yes, he's the president of the school board. Why, do you know him?"

"Not really," Jade replied, his face twisted up as if he had swallowed something that made him sick. "Our fri—well, someone we know and not really like, let's say, has the last name Randolph." He turned to Lily as if he was afraid that she was going to pounce on him like a hungry lioness. "I think he's Farah's father."

"He is," Lily replied glumly. "I think Farah mentioned before that her dad had _some _position with the school." She groaned. "So if he has something to do with this that probably means that Farah will be at this dance. As if I need _another _reminder about what happened last night."

"Do you want to talk about this, sweetie?" Nora asked, quickly switching to psychologist mode. Lily did not doubt her abilities. After all, Nora's best friend was Marty Saybrooke, and since they hang out so much, she knew that Nora had picked up some of the shrink's skills.

"No, thanks. I think Jade took care of that."

"Well, if you don't want to go to this dance, I understand," Asa said quickly.

"No," Lily interrupted. She grinned to herself. "I'm going. Farah is going to get just as she deserves next week."


End file.
